Shop preparation - Part 1

Airplanes have been built in all kinds of environments, from heated hangars to hallway closets, which is a testament to the builder's courage, endurance, and determination. Then again, 90% of all plans-built projects are never finished, and end up being sold as parts, or worse, getting scrapped.

Building an airplane is a huge challenge in and of itself, so I decided to improve my chances of success by spending some time up front trying to better my logistical situation.

My two-car attached garage was always the primary target, ever since the building bug crossed my mind, but much work would be required to upgrade it, and transform it from a single lightbulb, one-outlet basic shell, to a properly insulated, lighted, and wired Long EZ factory.

The next few photos will actually go back in time to document the work I have done so far to create a comfortable cocoon for my aircraft (to-be), and myself.

I am fortunate that my domicile neither gets too cold in the winter, nor too hot in the summer, but these are relative terms. It turns out that epoxy constructions have their own idea of what constitutes a temperate climate, and do not like anything colder than 70F, or hotter than 90F, with a sweet spot around 80F. Now, I would love to move where Mr Epoxy comes from (Hawaii maybe), but for now the best alternative is to insulate, heat, and cool my workshop.

On Jan 2010, I started work on the garage doors, as they seemed to be the simplest task. I went to Lowes and purchased insulation.

I cut it up  with a regular razor knife, and stuffed it in all the empty panels of the doors.

This took about an afternoon, and by the time it was done the result was pretty good. I could not feel any cold coming from the door panels anymore.

It is now a year and a half later, and the insulation has proven itself in the heat as well as the cold, and turned out to be robust as well, as long as you don't place heavy objects against it.

The next place to insulate on my list was the ceiling. My garage has nothing above it but the roof,  so  I cut a hole in the ceiling, and insulated the upstair after all my wiring was complete. I decided to use batts of the pink stuff laid between the joists. Itchy job, but pretty straight forward.

No, the lights were not already there!

Because the summer was approaching, I needed to install an air conditioner pretty soon. So I took a break from insulation duties, to start working on the electrical side.


First I had to add two 110 Volts circuits.

Then I added a 220 Volts circuit under those. Next I cut the drywall, and run the wires through the walls and ceiling, to where I needed it.

12 gauge wire (20A) going in

3 additional outlets (middle one is 220V)

I like electrical work, but it took quite some time to complete, with many trips back and forth to Home Depot to get more supplies.

Checking for proper wiring

220V outlet for AC/heat

Electricity in the shop is important, but nothing is as essential as proper lighting, so I tackled that by installing six double-tube neon lights. Can you say BRIGHT!!!

It was like trying to take a picture of the sun!

This photo just doesn't do it justice, but you are going to have to trust me on this, it is like daylight in there anytime of day or night. Indeed I have had some building session since then, that continued uninterrupted into the AMs, with no lighting issues at all.
While I was at it, as you can see, I added a retractable electrical extension to the ceiling. When I bought it, I just thought it would be cool, but now I use it all the times, and wouldn't give it up for anything. It is by far my favorite way to bring power tools to the parts I'm working on.

Best addition to the shop so far

By the time July 2011 rolled around, I was ready to add the AC/Heat window unit for which I had installed the 220 Volts circuit. I found a reconditioned unit on eBay for about $500, and bought it.

For a moment I thought I'd have to cut into the window frame to get it in!

A bit pricey, but this baby is a true monster. It weights 160 lbs, I could barely fit it in the opening, and I ended up throwing away all the nic-nacs that came with it.


It is rated as 24'000 BTUs for air conditioning, more than enough for a space twice the size of my garage.


Perfect!

This stand has weathered one hurricane already

This unit has been working all summer long, and was able to chill my garage on the worst of days. Here's a photo of a summer day with an outside temperature close to 100F.

And that's before I insulated the walls!


I decided to go with the cellulose insulation (paper) from Home Depot, and I started cutting holes near the ceiling into which to blow the stuff.

I will later cover them up with trim similar to baseboard.


Last, but not least, I needed a new side entrance door. When the  bottom of the casing rotted away on the old door, the threshold came loose and rainwater would come in the shop. I also wanted a door with mini-blinds inside the window, to avoid all that dust and spiderwebs that like to gather on the exposed kind. 

New garage side door

Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of the installation, but since it was a one man project, I'd rather forget how much effort it took to get it there.